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Showing posts from August, 2011

This is probably part 3 of 4

About 2.5 months ago, I wrote about my brake rip-off at Monro . Unfortunately for me, I neglected to do a follow-up post. If I had, I would have told you that I filled out an online survey about 10 days later, completely bashing my experience. The very next day, I received a call from J, the guy at the local Monro, who tried to explain himself. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say he did nothing to convince me to come back. Around this time, my car started to make funny noises, some of which sounded like knocking. I took it to my usual mechanic, who simply tightened my caliper mounting bracket. When I asked what this was about, my mechanic asked if I had recently had brakes put on. Grr. Apparently, had my mechanic not made this fix, my brakes could have eventually fallen off. Lovely. I called Monro that afternoon to tell J what happened. He told me if I brought the bill in, he would pay for it. Or I could have two free oil changes. I, stupidly, opted for the

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

Yesterday in the 5 o'clock hour, I was happily braiding Jordan's hair. After a few minutes, we heard what sounded like firecrackers. I normally call them fireworks, but because of the popping sound I heard, I am going with firecrackers. I commented to Jordan that I wondered what sort of holiday I had forgotten about, as I could not imagine why some idiots would be setting off fireworks at the end of August. I yelled to Brian, who was making dinner in the kitchen (yes, I am very lucky my hubby cooks), if he had heard the fireworks. He came into the room, looked at me seriously, and said those were not fireworks. Sigh. And, lo and behold, about 20 or so minutes later, Brian got an update on his super-smart phone that said a teenager had been shot outside of the local McDonald's. The same McDonald's I had just taken Jordan to last week. The one where we eat outside at the Play Place whenever it is nice. The one we go to at least once every other month. Between the

Going on 13

Jordan turned eight on Saturday. At some point, I will probably break down and write a post about my failing as a parent. But today is not that day; I want to keep it light! Jordan's big thing on her birthday was getting her ears pierced. I do not have my ears pierced. My parents told me I had to wait until I was 12 or 13, which really made me sad at the time, as every other girl in my class had her ears pierced. However, I eventually got over that, and when I finally was old enough, I pretty much lost interest. Plus I cannot stand pain. (In my defense, I birthed my kid without drugs. That pain was awful, but yet I still fear pain and avoid it at all costs, which explains why I am 20-some years overdue for a tetanus shot. Also worth noting that I cried during my sonogram. Yes, I am strange.) Jordan talked about getting her ears pierced back when she was four or five, but Bri and I thought she should wait until she was a little older. We did not have an exact age in mind, but I

Standing up for what is right

An Indiana County (where I grew up) photographer has pretty much gone viral with the way she stood up to some high school bullies. This woman, Jen McKendrick, came across some online bullying on Facebook. When she realized that some of the bullies had scheduled their senior portraits with her, Jen took a stand and emailed the kids and their parents to tell them that she could not be their photographer because of what they did. As Jen says it, she did not want to spend several hours with people who are ugly on the inside. Here is a link to her blog, which explains what happens in her own words. WTAE Channel 4 in Pittsburgh also featured her in a brief clip yesterday. I "liked" her Jen McKen page yesterday on Facebook, where she now has over 6,600 10,500 12,500 17,000 19,000 followers, up from over 2,000 when the story first came out (I am guessing she had a few hundred, perhaps close to a thousand, followers before all this happened). It was from that FB page I learned t

I bet not many people have done this before...

See those two shoes up there? The ones that don't match, not even close? Yours truly managed to leave the house last night in those completely different shoes. Apparently, when I checked myself out in the mirror before I left, I failed to look at my feet, which is not too surprising considering I pretty much never do that. What is odd is that I must have put each shoe on without looking at what I was doing. For the love of Pete, I know those shoes are slip-ons/backless, but how could I not catch a glimpse of them while sliding my tootsies in?! And as you can see from the photo, the structure is quite different. Any marginally coherent or observant person should notice that they don't feel the same. Yet I, apparently as clueless as they come, managed to walk out of the house and drive to the Strip District without noticing anything was amiss. When I got of my car almost 30 minutes later and took a few steps, then I decided to look down. Oddly enough (but clearly not surpr

A New York state of mind

As I was trying to fall asleep last night, our family vacation to NYC, back when I was around 9, came to mind. I am certain this memory came from something else, and perhaps by the time I finish this post, it will come to me. Only a handful of things from that trip have remained in my memory. We took a train to get there, and I remember sitting next to a nice, bearded guy who played games or talked to me for most of the ride. As I was thinking about that last night, I was pretty sure there is no way I would let my kid, who will be 8 in just over a week, sit next to a man we did not know. But times have changed, and I am over-protective (but, I swear, getting better). I also recall fearing that something bad was going to happen, such as our getting robbed in the middle of the street. I cannot remember why I felt that way; I find it hard to believe at age 9 I had any clue about NYC or had watched anything negative about it on TV. But I had that worry, which fortunately did not come

For every action, there is an equal, but opposite, reaction

Or something like that. Over the past few years, I have gotten a lot more environmentally friendly. But I am afraid the more I try to do to help better the environment, the more I end up hurting it, or wasting, at least in some other way. Example 1: I use reusable bags every time I shop. (I make an exception for my Kohl's visits, as I use those bags to line my bedroom garbage can.) The problem is, the bags get dirty and germy, so I sometimes spray them with a disinfectant spray. But isn't that just harming the environment too? Example 2: Years ago, before I lived in a place that recycled, I threw things in the garbage as soon as I finished them. End of story (for me, anyway). But now I rinse jars, jugs, and cans because I don't think you are "supposed" to leave food particles, remnants of PB, etc., on them. And that, of course, means using water unnecessarily. Maybe I don't need to do this, though? That said, I have made some recent changes that seem t

Is self-awareness a good or a bad thing?

I consider myself to be extremely self-aware. It is more than that really; unfortunately, I just don't know the correct, most applicable adjective to describe how obvious all my short-comings are to me. I am long-winded. Obviously, I ramble on and on (and on and on) in most posts on this blog. I have little doubt that most of you who read my blog skim it, rather than reading every single word. It's tiring just writing the posts! And I know that I talk too much (and sometimes interrupt people as a result of my talking so much). However, when I am around people whom I don't know well, I am actually pretty good at letting others take over the conversation. At a neighbor's party two weeks ago, I spent about one and a half hours talking to a woman I had just met. Actually, I talked about 15 minutes; my "new friend" pretty much monopolized the rest of the conversation, which was fine by me. I get bent out of shape about things I probably should not. Last week, m